reviewKILLBILL2

To make it mathematical, "Kill Bill, Vol. II" is to "Kill Bill, Vol. I" as "Jackie Brown" was to "Pulp
Fiction" -- a longer, more reflective character-driven companion piece to a raucous shot of
cinematic adrenaline. It's Tarantino's "White Album" to his "Sgt. Pepper." His "Lorax" to "Green
Eggs and Ham." Winter to summer.

QT's new film makes its case from the start with a black-and-white prologue to the events of "Vol.
I" in which an El Paso wedding party is gunned down in dramatic fashion. But the focus of the
scene -- a conversation between Bill and The Bride, not the killing -- gives a hint as to what we
might expect in the rest of the film.

Whereas "Vol. I" framed its scenes with swords, fist-fights, blood, gore, disarticulated limbs, and
kung-fu moves, "Vol. II" moseys its way around conversations, explanations, motivations, and
verbal confrontations. The new film is completely different in tone and style from its predecessor,
and that takes a while to get used to when you're expecting a bloody death to punctuate every
exchange. (I can imagine it might take less discerning moviegoers a few days after leaving the
theater.) Make no mistake about it, there's still a good deal of gunplay, swordplay, and violent
retribution, but it's obvious that "Vol. II" is meant to be the story of The Bride's passions and
"upbringing" -- not her bloodbathing capabilities. We saw that last October.

Accordingly, Tarantino gets us under the skin of Bill, Budd, and Elle Driver with much more
elaboration than with our heroine's previous two foes. These are richer roles, and amid an almost
Shakespearean sense of denouement we fully grasp what drove Bill to kill his former lover -- and
why she must stop at nothing to burn him right back.

Still, the film does slow down in spots simply because of the expectation of manic energy given
everything that's been seen before. When the spare fight scenes do pepper "Vol. II" they seem
almost like afterthoughts -- necessary plot elements since this is a revenge epic, but not nearly
enough to satiate the first film's scarlet promise.

It is to this end that the title fight between Bill and The Bride will leave fans on both sides of the
fence in vociferous disagreement. There's no denying that Tarantino is working with some of his
most evocative dialogue ever, but amid ruminations on loyalty, truth, fate, parenthood, and the
Superman vs. Batman debate, somewhere we lost the carnage. (I can imagine a cynical Brian de
Palma fan commenting that it's called 'Kill Bill' not 'Talk Bill to Death.')

Yet the outstanding performances make the lack of true action almost completely forgivable. Uma
Thurman, reaching deep beyond what was already fantastically written on the page, reveals her
character to be one of sensibility and heart yet still brutal to the core. The actress' fortress of
confidence is inpregnable, her fury unmatched.

But the film is basically a two-hander, and David Carradine, in the Robert Forster role, exhibits just
the right amounts of tenderness and evil. (It's probably a 90-10 mix.) He's the type of person who
could pull out a gun and shoot at any second, for no reason, yet The Bride's attraction to him is
fully palpable. He's a violently live wire with almost grandfatherly qualities...if that's possible --
which, in QT's world, it is.

So the saga of "Kill Bill" comes to an end without the big bang that it began with, yet we are left
with a more cerebral understanding of these characters and their world. The two volumes' moods
are quite varied, their stylistic flourishes distinct, and fan reaction is likely to be all over the map.
But one thing's for sure: I wouldn't take one half without the other.

By Anthony Kusich	Kill Bill, Vol. II	Main Page